Arsenal Plan January Move for Premier League Defender - Report

The Gunners are in the lookout for a central defender with Thomas Vermaelen looking increasingly likely to move out of the club in the following transfer window. The club captain has been on the bench for major parts this season, having failed to make the starting spot his own ahead of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker. With the World Cup coming up next year, the Belgian is willing to move to a different club for more first team football so as to ward off interest from Jan Vertonghen and Vincent Kompany for his starting spot in the Belgian national team.

Wenger has been tracking the defender for a long time and the 25-year-old has emerged as one of the targets to replace Vermaelen should the Belgian prefer to leave. His experience in the Premier League will help him slot into the team at Arsenal and the Frenchman is willing to spend up to £6m for the New Zealand international in order to bolster his defence, which was found out in their Capital One clash against Chelsea.

Manchester United and Liverpool are also believed to be interested, but the defender is expected to extend his stay in London if given a choice. His contract with the Hammers ends in 2015 and West Ham will be forced to sell him if they cannot persuade him to sign a new contract as they will risk losing him on a free.

Meanwhile, Vermaelen believes that both the goals against conceded against Chelsea were avoidable, something which the Gunners need to work on if they have to challenge for the title.

"The first goal is always important, you always want to take the lead in such a big game. It's quite disappointing they got a 1-0 lead, it was a goal we could avoid - I think both goals [were avoidable]. I think we started well in the second half, pushing higher up, and we had the most possession of the ball. That's why the second goal killed it a little bit," Vermaelen told www.arsenal.com.